Here's Apple's Temporary Fix For That iPhone Messages Bug

If you're an iPhone user, you may have noticed a bug emerged this week, which caused Messages on iOS to crash when a specific string of text was received. It could apparently be sent from any device - a Windows, iOS and Android - and while it may have amused some, it was generally annoying to most of us.

While it may seem like someone was into this sort of behaviour just for the LULZ, The Guardian has cited security experts saying that hackers could exploit this bug for far more nefarious purposes than simply annoying their mates.

Apple has, thankfully, been pretty quick to react. “Apple is aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update,” it said in a statement.

As such, Apple has now posted a temporary workaround on its support website. If you pop over there you'll see a three-step process that'll you to open your Messages app. Oh, and it involves using Siri - so now you have an excuse to do that. For those who don't fancy clicking the above link, the instructions from Apple's support site are posted below:

1. Ask Siri to “read unread messages.”

2. Use Siri to reply to the malicious message. After you reply, you’ll be able to open Messages again.

3. In Messages, swipe left to delete the entire thread. Or tap and hold the malicious message, tap More, and delete the message from the thread.

So we can all breathe a little easier now, though that proper glitch-fixing update can't come quickly enough.